Best way to get air out of IV tubing for IV antibiotics is ?

Specialties Infusion

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Whats the best way to get rid of air? When I can hang an IV antibiotic with new tubing I can usually do OK with priming it and getting it ready. However, when I have to re-use IV tubing that has run dry on another shift it seems to take a long time as there are a lot of bubbles in it. What do you suggest?

Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.

This is such a great conversation... I have never heard of pulsatile flushing and had to google it!! My facility doesn't have a specific policy on priming, hanging NS flushes, pulsatile flushing, OR overfilling piggy backs for priming (pharmacy said it all depends on who did the mixing that day)...

I'm hesitant to open such a huge can of worms by taking these issues further (like to our P&P dept), but technically I could be "punished" for doing something "wrong" like hanging a NS flush whether there's a specific policy or not, right??

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Specializes in Critical Care.
This is such a great conversation... I have never heard of pulsatile flushing and had to google it!! My facility doesn't have a specific policy on priming, hanging NS flushes, pulsatile flushing, OR overfilling piggy backs for priming (pharmacy said it all depends on who did the mixing that day)...

I'm hesitant to open such a huge can of worms by taking these issues further (like to our P&P dept), but technically I could be "punished" for doing something "wrong" like hanging a NS flush whether there's a specific policy or not, right??

I wouldn't go against a specific policy (but if you think it's wrong then change it), but as Nurses we don't need a policy directive on everything we do, there are standards of care and best practices to refer to as well. Our facility is largely doing away with policies, instead referring to best practice sources, our goal is to only have policies that cover what isn't specified in best practice sources.

Pulsatile flushing is a no-brainer if you consider basic fluid dynamics, but it's not very prevalent because the INS does not recommend, which is most likely due to Lynn Hadaway's opposition to it, even though her reasoning makes no sense and she clearly does not comprehend the purpose of it. Some manufacturers, such as Bard, specifically instruct that pulsatile flushing is to be used.

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To get air out of an IV line (especially when it's causing the pump to beep):

clamp the line near to the patient (below the access port you will be using) or disconnect the line from the patient's IV device

open the pump/remove the line from the pump

insert an empty 10cc syringe into a low port (but with a closed clamp between the patient and this port)

draw some of the fluid through the line into your empty syringe, repeat as needed to draw all the air out of the line into your syringe

put the line back into the pump, unclamp or reattach to the patient's IV, run IV fluids/meds as before

voila!

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You can actually take that a step further. You can tap the air bubbles out of the syringe (or even just tap them to the plunger side of the syringe) and simply put the fluids you drew out back into the line, depending upon how much fluid you pulled out to get the air out.

I can do the whole step without disconnecting so it remains a closed system and just throw the syringe with air bubble away when I'm done.

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